Mennonite Company Wins Injunction Stopping Obama HHS Mandate

Most of the lawsuits against the pro-abortion HHS mandate in Obamacare have come from Catholic or evangelical groups or businesses. In one case, Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Mennonite-owned company based in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, filed a federal suit against the mandate, which forces employers to cover abortion-causing contraception for their employees.

A federal judge has sided with the company and given it a 14-day reprieve from following the new mandate, which took effect yesterday.

“The Pennsylvania federal district court issued a 14-day temporary restraining order barring enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate against a cabinet and wood specialties company whose Mennonite owners object on religious grounds to furnishing coverage for contraceptives they consider abortifacients,” says a report on the decision. “The TRO is limited to “the provision of insurance coverage for the contraceptive services to which Plaintiffs object on religious grounds.” The court set a hearing on a preliminary injunction for Jan. 4.”

In granting the temporary restraining order, the court said: “In light of the opinions of several courts favoring Plaintiffs’ position in this case, we find that Plaintiffs have demonstrated a reasonable probability of success on the merits of their RFRA claim. While additional evidence is necessary to determine whether Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success is sufficient to justify an injunction for the duration of the litigation, we find it to be adequate to warrant temporary relief pending a preliminary injunction hearing.”

“Within a matter of days, plaintiffs will have to decide between paying substantial fines or committing an act which they have shown to have a likelihood of violating their rights to religious freedom,” the order read.

“Conestoga Wood Specialties, citing the principles of religious freedom on which William Penn founded Pennsylvania, says in its suit, filed in U.S. District Court, that to accord to its Mennonite beliefs, it would be ‘sinful and immoral for the company to participate in, pay for, facilitate or otherwise support any contraception’ that would have the effect of an abortion.”

The Conestoga lawsuit is one of more than 40 challenges that have been filed against the federal law. In the past few months, several employers have won temporary victories against the mandate.

Also today, LifeNews reports on how the founder of Dominos Pizza won his bid for an emergency order to prevent enforcement of the mandate while the lawsuit it filed against the Obama administration over the HHS mandate that forces religious employers to purchase drugs that may cause abortions for their employees continues.